The Count

Bailin Pailin

Nuff said.

A Comment Back to Christianity Today

This post is actually the body of a comment I left at the Christianity Today post titled Tom Hanks: Pawn of Satan? It is a long comment and I did not want to bore those not interested.

No one wants to persecute you (at least not really, as far as I can see), all we atheists want is for the holier-than-thou to mind their own business. If, on the other hand, you are so arrogant or uneducated as to think that disagreement is persecution, well, there’s nothing I can say to you. So, let’s examine this holier-than-thou thing.

I, as a humanist want to not have your leaders make public health pronouncements which are based on ideology and not proven, common sense practices. To not have orchestrated campaigns which lower the science standards in this country because they conflict with your ideologies, especially at a time when we need them most. It does not make us stronger when our child mortality rate is at number 33, right between New Caledonia and Croatia, when it used to be the one of the lowest in the world.

To not automatically overreact with calls for blasphemy or heresy laws when being criticized. People poke fun at other people, their ideas and their totems. People write fiction based on almost anything. People criticize and ridicule almost every topic imaginable. That's the point of free speech. The religious do not have any special right to circumvent that and your psyches are no more fragile than the next person’s.

To not set up litmus tests for ideology, such as state laws mandating that an atheist may not run for elected office. To not set up state sponsored religions. To not undermine the separation of church and state (I know you must realize that it is in place to protect you more than to protect me, or are you really looking forward to bringing something like the internecine fighting in Northern Ireland to the US?).

To not deny basic human rights to anyone based on any arbitrary criteria. Just because you believe something does not mean you have the right to expect that everyone else has to believe in the same thing or be coerced into a behaviour which is in keeping with your belief. No, can't have.

To not influence people to risk their own death based on a promise of some half baked eternal life. Life is here and now, there is no extra at the end. That makes people’s lives very precious, since there is no extra at the end; that is the basis for good morality; that is the basis for the Golden Rule. True "Good" does not come because a sky-cop is watching you and taking notes. Good behaviour is not the same thing as not getting caught.

I criticized Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter... all the way to Obama. I have criticized the pope and I especially have no respect for the current papal office holder. I can stick a pin, a nail or anything else into any cracker I choose. I have the right do that and you all have every right to be upset, but you do not have the right or any special privilege to make ad hominem attacks, to legislate rights away or to threaten physical violence and neither do I.

To bring it back to my original post, luckily for all of us (including the health and welfare of your children and your children's children) the wider audience sees the same thing and the influence of religion and its ideas is waning more and more and faster and faster. 500 years ago I may have been put to death, 200 years ago I may have been jailed, 50 years ago I may have been shunned, today we are an active, vocal and growing group and we may actually see an end to superstition and magic. Tomorrow...

Note, to those who feel like they are being persecuted by me, no one is saying you can't be religious or can't believe in your god of choice. Just as much as we don’t want to do what you want, I understand you don’t want to do what we want. It is simply that this is not the 16th century anymore and your religions are not magically born into privilege.

There is only one place where, for me, religious rights end, and that is when religious ideology affects the health of another human being. I am specifically talking about people who do not "believe" in medicine. The state must intervene when the proven efficacy of medicine can prevent harm to people in their care. They have the right to kill themselves off if they wish, but absolutely no right to kill someone else off.

In conclusion, you and I are not really all that different in our hopes and dreams because I am an idealist too. To borrow from John Lennon, just imagine if all the money and energy spent on piety and propping up the symbols of religion were channelled directly into helping your fellow human being. Just imagine if all the wealth locked up in a place like the Vatican City were released directly to raise the standard of living of people around the world. Just imagine if people respected people for who they are not for what they believe. That is the world I want for all of us and our children.

To put it another way, and be honest with yourself, ever since the first human rubbed two sticks together to make fire a whole long pantheon of gods has existed and not one has significantly improved the world’s condition and not one has avoided bringing misery to people. Now it is time for humanists to try.

Cheney and Gingrich in 2012?

Given the combination of Cheney's chutzpah and realpolitik, I do think Richard is about to bamboozle the christian masses once again. Notice his:

• higher profile of late (love me, love my grimace... you know you want to),
• his misdirection in telling us to look for a new Republican face (oh, oops, there are none on the horizon, I guess I'll just have to sacrifice myself and step up to the plate),
• telling the right-wing ghouls what they want to hear about no political compromise (this from someone who is capable of folding himself like a pretzel) and
• being followed around by an eye of Newt (the original bamboozler, with his contract on Americans).

Yes kids, they are about to do it to you again and since you all are completely incurious you will go to the polls in 2012 firm with the conviction that he's going to deliver jesus, angels, unicorns and an atheist free society, oh my.

Bwa-ha-ha. Darth Cheney loves to hear the lamentation of the women.

Obama's Moutarde (Part 2)

What really makes me go, "huh?", is that the aforementioned morons actually think they have something on Obama with this mustard thing. I say we should ship these whackaloons to Afghanistan, so they can learn to get their priorities straight.

Obama's Moutarde

All I can picture is a certain someone who happens to now live in the White House saying, WTF is wrong with those morons. Yes, he's too politic to actually say something like that, but still, one can hope.

I feel bad for Carrie Prejean

Seriously, all she did was answer a question truthfully... and in return she a) finds out what living in 21st century glass houses is all about and b) that there are people more than willing to turn you into a tool, regardless of how cute and sincere you may be.

Sigh, I just hope someone learns something from this.

Such a Miniscule Heaven

Just a tiny post. I was enjoying Ebonmuse's post concerning how boring heaven would have to be. My head was just bobbing up and down since we've all had the same thought at some point in time. Heck, I think human immortality itself would be actually be a curse, but imagine living in heaven where you couldn't even opt out of if you wanted to. now there's a hell if there ever was one. Yes, I know, basking in god's glow is an end in and of itself. Pfft, you have some pretty low expectations.

The only thing I wanted to amplify a bit is the rationale for the heaven that LaHaye and Jenkins write about. Their heaven is a populist's heaven, an everyman's heaven. For people like that, who have an intellect similar to the President they voted for, who prize ignorance, a humanist's heaven would be absolute anathema.

LaHaye and Jenkins are pandering to their lowest common denominator. As a matter of fact, it validates every prejudice their audience holds dear and fosters their smug superiority of non-achievement. They're reassuring the flock that even in death it's OK to be remain incurious.

They're also convincing the people who read their books to be even more aggressive at proselytizing, as now that's not just part of the ticket in, but it's their only ticket in. It won't take much for it to become christian conventional wisdom.

Sadly, they don't realize that even the most bland and incurious intellect would eventually choke on a heaven like that, but they'd be stuck there, tormented forever.

I'd rather be dead.

The Count is a Bad Boy

I have this wonderful opportunity to spew forth opinions, but I let it languish. Well, I'll try one more time to post regularly here.

You see, The Countess thinks I get too worked up when I verbally spar with imbeciles godsters in miscellaneous blog comments, so I relax by playing Dark Age of Camelot rather than post on my own blog.

it could be argued I relax too much.

A Post From the Front Lines on the War on Sneezing

Well, we've heard of the war on christmas, but I bet you've never heard of the war on sneezing. Hey, I'm not making this stuff up! It seems that some people, where I used to work until very recently, took umbrage that I did not follow up with a "bless you" after someone sneezed. Not just once, but twice.

Now, I would have thought that in this age of modern medicine, folks wouldn't feel the need to invoke some special dispensation for the fear that someone's "life force" could escape through their nose or that they may be in mortal danger from some evil demon masquerading as an illness. Who'd have thunk?

Before I get accused of making a mountain out of a mole hill, let me say that I'm not the one that made a big deal out of it.

I Taint Got No Grits

Here I am in New England and they finally done me in. The two local supermarket chains stopped carrying grits, and I'm peeved, nay, vexed, very vexed. What, all of a sudden grits have cooties? They're too important to carry it? They should be charged with conspiracy!

Harumph! Well, I have to make do with polenta/grits, which is pretty much the same thing, but this is five-minute-cooking polenta and that's just plain wrong... everyone knows grits take 20 minutes to cook. The only image in my head is that someone pre-chewed it and spit it back into the box so that it would cook faster.

Yes, I'm throwing a hissy fit.

Fast, Sorta, Food II

To me, fast food is not about getting food fast, but how much work I have to do to make it so I can maximize the time I spend with The Countess.

Today I'd like to give you my recipe for Mussels. There's nothing that's tastier, simpler or cheaper.

Taxpayer Funded Breast Augmentation

Being a man and being me I'm somewhat reluctant to approach this story for the simple fact that I cannot pretend to understand the psychology and that, really, it is none of my business. Being me, however, I'm not completely reluctant.

Via Fark I found this story about two Australian Navy women receiving breast augmentations paid for by their Navy (hence tax-payer funded) health plan. Frankly, my first reaction is bully for them in getting any kind of medical procedure paid for by any kind of health insurance.

My second reaction is, why is this even news? All that this feeble mind can think of is that no one puts health insurance provided "male enhancement" procedures or prescription plan Viagra on the front page.

Doncha know, a swinging dick is serious business meriting serious consideration while breasts are what? Oh, yeah... it's about those silly women and their silly problems. Ack, the wax in my ears sound better than those words.

So, the only way I can approach this story is... oi, we still have a long way to go.

Entartete Kunst

Entartete Kunst is a term the nazis coined when referring to Jewish, liberal or non-family values art, it is the name of an art "exhibition" in 1937 which displayed such art and It is also a term that Cologne archbishop Joachim Meisner used in 2007 to warn "that when art becomes estranged from worship, culture becomes degenerate." No slip of the tongue, that bad boy knew exactly what he was saying because it is the equivalent of using the "n" word in this country. Joachim's words are very telling, because it confirms what the rest of us know... that the catholic church has not changed one iota and is, in fact, still out of its mind and out of touch with the rest of the world.

To me, the tactics used by the Middle Ages/holy inquisition era church and the fascist madmen of the 20th century are strikingly similar and only differ in scale... right down to the crusade(s) each undertook to liberate their own "east". My mother and father lived inside occupied Europe during WW II. My father in Hungary and my mother in Italy and both were reasonably devout christians. However, they both lost a lot of their "faith" after witnessing the catholic church, during sermons, cozying up to the fascists and enabling them.

Where was the church's moral outrage then? Where was the catholic leadership as Europe slid towards fascism? Where were the sermons exhorting people to protest? Hitler and Mussolini's rise to power started in the 1920s and by 1930 there was no question as to who they were and what they wanted. No, those narrowminded pedophile enabling bigoted shits recognized one of their own. With the exception of a few brave priests men, the catholic church said nothing, did nothing and enabled one of the greatest human tragedies to happen. Yeah, I suppose that in 500 years, if they're still around, some pope's gonna apololgise for it. Fat lotta good that'll do.

The silver lining to this story, however, is the overwhelming smackdown this nazi Ratzi-a-like has gotten from the press. Also, it looks like Cologne is bleeding more catholics than any other part of Germany. Some people have finally learned their lesson, and are willingly tossing him and his ilk into the dustbin of history.

Now, if only Americans could do the same.

Alarum: Save the Downtrodden Christians in Israel

I was happily zoning out on some teevee when this franciscan foundation ad begging for money intruded upon my unconsciousness. The ad wasn’t explicitly begging for money; for a mere $75 it was selling you some space to print your name in a book or to put it on a wall in Jerusalem. It still amounts to begging, just ask any college alumnus. :)

So, my curiosity was piqued... I mean, the cat-licks have more money than (dare I say it) god, and that’s without even counting all the loot they have in the vatican, What the hell (!) are they doing begging for more.

Bridezillas

A confession, the Countess and I have a guilty pleasure called Bridezillas on the WE network. It also has a really snappy theme song.

Essentially, each show follows around two of the most shallow, superficial, egotistic and dislikeable women you could possibly imagine as they get ready for their wedding day. Now, I fully understand the stresses of planning and executing a modern wedding, but if these folks weren't so over the top insane and inane they would not be on the show, and the show would not be on the air.

Guaranteed, in one month to five years, these women will be on Jerry Springer... and the cycle of television comes full circle.

Yikes! I'm Writing About Britney Spears

I'll be very brief.

Ok, I'm late on this because the last thing I care about or listen to is anything to do with "pop stars". In all honesty, I've never seen or heard Britney Spears perform on any media. I reserve myself for much more serious pursuits, such as playing WoW or watching Stargate: SG-1 and nekkid female Jello wrestling.  :)

Anyhoo, having said all that, I do think that all the hate being leveled at her is unfair. She's just doing what the average Jane and Joe in this country aspire to do, she's recapturing her lost youth and glory without really working for it instead of growing and maturing with life.

Those Americans Must be Crazy

While writing the previous article about Pearl Harbor, I was also thinking about how easily we Americans take umbrage and then how we tend to overact when someone comes over our border and pisses in our pond. It is a good thing, since it deters people from doing it too often. Unfortunately some people are just plain stupid and don't really understand the fragile American psyche.

Japanese Bushido Saved Us at Pearl Harbor

One of my favorite science fiction genres is alternate history. Try this one on for size,

The other day I was watching a middle-of-the-night TV show I recorded called "Pear Harbor: Death of the Arizona". It took a forensic look at the sinking of USS Arizona (BB-39) during the Pearl Harbor attack on 12/7/41 (BTW, notice your conditioning, I'll bet that 12/7/41 did not carry the same impact as December 7th, 1941 does).

Which got me to thinking... one item which is rarely mentioned when discussing the Pearl harbor attack is how much more of an umitigated disaster it could have been if the Japanese had targeted the nearby fuel farms.

Head. Hole. Place Either in the Other...

...and it reflects the religionist world view.

On the 10th, the following picture was up at Astronomy Picture of the Day, which also happens to be the home page for The Countess' and my computers (Click on the picture below, then make it "full-sized" in your browser for a really big picture).

It is the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image, and is the deepest image of the universe ever taken in visible light. Look at all the galaxies!

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